Save the Man of Iron
by The-One-They-Call-Prodigy
Summary: Yet another argument between Captain America and Iron Man erupted, resulting in the billionaire to flee Stark Tower. Little did Tony know, he was about to cross paths with Loki, leaving the Avengers to save him. In the process, Steve discovers new feelings for the Iron Man. Will they save Tony in time? Or will Steve be forced to live the rest of his life without his Man of Iron?
1. Chapter 1

Rubble still lay strewn across the streets of New York, days after a roaring battle between good and evil commenced. The evil? Loki of Asgard and his army of Chitauri. The good? The Avengers: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye and the Hulk. The battle raged as the Avengers fought to put an end to Loki's plans to destroy the human race. The heroes succeeded in their mission and saved all of mankind. All was well. Erm...sort of.

Even after the battle, the Avengers still didn't see eye-to-eye. Well, two of them didn't anyway. And those two were Captain America and Iron Man.

Captain America, also referred to as Steve Rogers, was a level-headed, cooperating individual. He would put others before himself in an instant despite any consequences. The genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, was different.

It was true that Tony Stark was an exceptional inventor. But, his self-centered nature, stubbornness and inability to get along with others made him out to be a cold and heartless man.

Despite the many differences in their personalities, both men wouldn't hesitate to work together and put their lives on the line in order to save the world (no matter how irritating the other might be).

* * *

Steve had just watched the son of Howard Stark fly off to God knows where, leaving him with a feeling of utter regret and guilt. Their most recent argument was still fresh in his mind.

_"For crying out loud, Stark! Can't you for once stop acting so self-centered and worry about the team?"_

_"Last time I checked, Cap, I wasn't part of this so-called team!"_

_"And now I know why. When I first met you, I had hopes that you would be like your father-"_

_"Don't you bring my father into this!"_

_"-but you're not. You're a complete disappointment!"__  
_  
Seething with a newfound rage, the Man of Iron had suited up and stormed out of Stark Tower (the Avengers' headquarters), disappearing into the afternoon sky. He ignored the tears that stung his eyes as the Captain's words echoed throughout his mind.

_"You're a complete disappointment!"_

* * *

Flying really took a lot of power, even when you were using the Iron Man suit. Tony had nearly crash landed on the outskirts of the New York-Pennsylvania border, the suits' power levels reaching a low 22%.

"Damn," he muttered, removing the helmet from his head. "Well, I've had worse landings." Quite honestly, he had no idea. He usually told himself these things just to make himself feel better. Sometimes it worked, other times...not so much. "Name the nearest PA hotspot, JARVIS."

"Well, the closet tourist attraction is Lake Erie, sir. Just fifteen miles west." With a grunt, Tony proceeded due west towards one if the ionic Great Lakes, completely oblivious to the Asgardian following his every move.

* * *

"What do you mean, 'Stark is missing'?" Fury slammed his hands down on the table, pointedly glaring at the rest of the team. "Well?"

"It's my fault, Nick."

Director Fury focused his gaze on the blond super-soldier. "And how the _hell _is it your fault, Cap?"

Steve's eyes were locked on the floor as he began to shift uncomfortably. "It was never my intention to make him leave. I was just expressing my dislike of his attitude and...things escalated from there." He wanted to kick himself for how stupid that sounded. He had yelled at the genius yet again and now he was gone. All because of him.

Fury shook his head, slamming a fist on the table again. "Can't you two at least _try _to get along?" With that, he stormed out of the room, muttering incoherent nonsense to himself.

Once he was out of the room, the entire team turned their attention to one Steve Rogers. "Nice job, Cap. Now we have to go find Stark. And just when I thought we were all getting along so well." Clint wasn't happy. Well, none of them were. But at least they weren't taking their frustrations out on Steve.

"Shut up, Clint." Natasha raised a hand and hit him over the head, making the other wince. "You don't need to give Steve a hard time about it. It's not like he knew Stark was going to bolt."

"I agree with the lady," Thor boomed, unintentionally making everyone else flinch. "You should not blame the Captain for something he could not have predicted." The demi-god clapped a hand on his fellow blond's shoulder, beaming at him. "We will find the Man of Iron and return him to you."

Steve looked up at his team, silently nodding his thanks. "I think it's safe to call it a day, then. We'll meet back in here tomorrow morning to look for Tony." The Avengers agreed and one-by-one they headed off towards their part of the Tower. Only Steve and Thor remained. "Thor? Can I ask you something?" The Asgardian nodded, looking a bit curious. "You may ask me anything, my friend."

Steve cleared his throat awkwardly as if he suddenly felt nervous to be there. "What did you mean by 'return him to you'?"

At first, Thor seemed confused. But eventually, he came to his senses and grinned broadly. "You do seem to be fond of the Man of Iron, and we will be doing you a favor by returning him to you." The Asgardian seemed proud of himself for making such an inference, so he didn't understand why the soldier was so upset. "Dear friend, is something ailing you? Your face has turned many a shade of red."

Steve felt his face heating up, his heart pounding so loudly that he thought it would blast his eardrums, and his stomach somersault wildly at the answer he received. "I'm not _fond _of Stark. I have a hard time even _tolerating_ him, let alone _like _him! What gave you the idea in the first place?"

The Captain's sudden change in mood caught Thor off-guard. He blinked slowly (and almost innocently) at the Cap, crossing his arms defensively. "The words I speak are true. There is no denying that you are indeed fond of the iron man." Without another word, Thor proceeded out of the room and disappeared down the hall.

The Cap stood there in silence as every word spoken during the meeting whirled around in his mind. His brows furrowed when he remembered one part in particular. "Since when did I start calling him 'Tony'?"

* * *

"JARVIS, how much longer till we get there?" Tony's feet felt as if they were about to fall off. Never again was he going to walk to places. It was either fly, drive, or don't go at all. Period. "Two minutes, eighteen seconds and counting, sir." With a groan, the genius pushed onward.

_Snap_!

Tony's head immediately snapped up as he scanned the surrounding trees for any movement. "Who's there?" He did his best to stay calm, though the fear of being attacked without being able to use his suit wasn't entirely neutralized. That's when he heard it. A faint laugh that sounded more maniacal than friendly.

"Silly mortal," the voice said. "What is an _Avenger_ doing out here? _All by himself?_"

Without hesitation, Tony whipped around and aimed a repulsor in the direction of the voice. "Loki." He earned himself another maniacal cackle as he was sent flying into an immense oak tree. He grunted, squinting to see the tall figure looming over him. "Loki," he repeated, winded. "I thought we...took care of you?"

The Asgardian gripped him by the shoulders, hoisting the man off the ground. "Hardly. T'was fairly easy, my escape. It took little effort." Tony winced and raised a hand, pointing a repulsor at the other's chest. Loki snickered and threw the genius into another tree. "Pathetic. Do you really believe you can stop me?" His snicker soon turned into a scowl, forcefully stomping on the defenseless Avengers' chest. "You think you can defeat the rightful King of Asgard?"

Tony let out an earsplitting cry, feebly trying to move the boot before it completely crushed his arc reactor. "What...what do you want...Reindeer Games?" His question was answered when he was engulfed in a bluish light, finding himself trapped in a dungeon-like cell before falling unconscious.

* * *

**A/N: Just a new idea I've been working with. I think you guys will like this one.**

**Also, I won't be uploading once everyday. If anything, the updates will be inconsistent (ex. Upload at 4:00 p.m, 5:45 p.m, and 9:13 p.m etc...).**

**I hope that won't bother you guys! ^.^;**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys~ I apologize about the lengthy wait. This chapter gave me a headache. **

**It's a bit shorter than the last one, and a bit messy. I might decide to rewrite it later on.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this.**

**~HT**

* * *

_10:36 p.m._ In about four minutes, it would be exactly seven hours since Tony's absence. Worry had started creeping up on Steve at the one hour mark. The soldier had spent a majority of his time cooped up in Tony's room, looking for anything that might give him a hint as to where to find him. When he found nothing, he went down to the gym and took his frustrations out on a few punching bags, but no matter how many times he destroyed one, he couldn't shake that feeling of guilt and anger that was eating at him. He even asked Bruce if he would 'Hulk-up' and go a few rounds with him. Bruce only shook his head and responded, "It's too dangerous," and went back to watching movies with Clint and Thor.

After a few hours of working out, Steve returned to Tony's room. He knew there was no point in doing so - it's not like something would have popped up while he was gone - but he felt strangely better knowing that he was surrounded by the genius' things.

To Steve's surprise, Tony's room was rather tidy. Perhaps it was JARVIS' doing or maybe he cleaned it on his own accord, but either way, the room was spotless. The brown carpeted floor was free of any clothing and garbage, his desk was neat and organized (probably because Pepper constantly nagged him to clean it), his bed was always made and his dresser was clean. If Steve didn't know any better, he would think that this room belonged to Pepper.

Running his hand along the wall, Steve made his way over to the bed and sat down. He laid down on the neatly folded bedspread and buried his face in the pillow. He inhaled deeply as he allowed himself to get lost in the billionaires' scent. Tony, to Steve, smelled of coffee, motor oil and something else that he just couldn't place. Shampoo, maybe? It didn't matter. The odd combination just seemed so..._Tony _and Steve liked it. He found himself smiling a bit as the image of the genius, billionaire, etc. entered his mind. "Tony..."

"Steve!"

The Cap immediately stood up and hurried out of the room. "Tony?"

He dashed into the hallway and nearly plowed into a firey-headed Natasha. "Sorry, Natasha. I didn't-"

"Apologize later. We think we've found Tony."

The soldier's blue eyes grew wide as he took off down the hall, the red-haired assassain following close behind. The pair appeared moments later in the conference room.

"There you are, Rogers!" Fury watched him as he and Natasha took their seats at the table. "I assume Agent Romanoff explained to you what we've discovered?" Steve nodded and eagerly glanced at Agent Hill, who was at Fury's side. Hill typed in a bunch of nonsense and what looked to be a map popped up on the monitor. She waved her hand and zeroed in on a particularly mountainous region. "We've traced the signal from the Iron Man armor to this location. The Rocky Mountains."

"There appears to be an old S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker inside the mountain," Fury added. "What on Earth would he be doing there?" At once, Steve slammed his hands on the table and stood up. "What are we sitting around here for then? Let's get Stark!"

He was about to bolt from the room when Director Fury stopped him. "Hold on, soldier. We don't know what could be waiting for us there. For all we know, he could just be snooping around in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s business again." Steve frowned. Without another word, the blond turned on his heel and proceeded down the hall back to Tony's room.

"Ugh..." Tony groaned as he strained against the chains that were restricting his movement. He was stripped of his armor that was discarded in a heap next to him, wearing only his black undersuit. He squinted as he tried to get a decent visual of his surroundings. All that he could see were the bars of the cell in which he was contained. "Hey, Rudolph!" Tony called out, remembering quite well whom his captor was. "This is no way to treat a guy like me!" A bright flash of blue made him wince, the sudden light agitating the migraine that began to bloom. Several moments of silence had passed. What was Loki waiting for? He had Iron Man. All he had to do was wave his hand and he would be rid of him. What was confusing to Tony was why Loki wanted him in the first place. Why, out of all the Avengers, did he want Tony? Who was _the_ most stubborn, selfish jackass in the world? "What? No welcoming party? That's a shame." More silence ensued. _What is he waiting for? _"Damn you! What do you want with me?"

"Petty human," Loki snickered and pointed the end of his scepter at his prisoners' chest, dangerously close to piercing the arc reactor. "You do not deserve to possess the powers of a god. You are weak. I am only doing this realm a favor..." Tony flinched as he felt the Asgardian's breath in his ear. "...by destroying you." A loud crunching noise made Tony cry out in agony as Loki's scepter plunged into the arc reactor that kept the man alive. The reactor's light began to dim drastically. The Asgardian snickered and let his prisoner slump to the floor, admiring the blue light as it flickered and died out. Loki cackled maniacally at the sight of the motionless body. "Farewell, _Man of Iron."_

"Brother!" The familiar booming voice made Loki spin around, completely unprepared for the large hammer that sent him flying backwards. Thor stepped through the hole in the cell that his mighty Mjolnir created as the hammer returned to its owner. He approached his dazed brother, allowing the other Avengers time to get to Tony. One of the first to do so, was Captain America.

The super-soldier hurried to his side at once, his face full of worry and panic; an unusual sight for the blond. He fell to his knees, gripping the unmoving Avengers' shoulders and giving them a forceful shake. "Tony! Stark, wake up!" He kept shaking him, only to realise that his arc reactor wasn't glowing. Steve's panic increased ten-fold as he lifted Tony into his arms and carried him out of harm's way, leaving Thor, Black Widow and Hulk to deal with a very pissed Loki. "Hawkeye! I need cover!"

The archer replied by shooting a well-aimed arrow at his target, dashing after Cap as the explosion hit its' mark. "You got it, Cap!" Both Avengers retreated down the halls of the bunker (which was starting to look less like a bunker and more like an old S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters) to safety. Steve came to an abrupt stop as the entire facility shook violently. He hardly realised the piece of concrete as it came falling down on him until the archer blasted it to pieces, urging the other forward. "No time to stop and smell the roses, Cap! Keep moving!" Snapping out of his daze, the soldier surged forward and retreated to safety with Hawkeye on his heels. Tony was laid on a gurney and taken by the S.H.I.E.L.D. Medical Personnel at once. Steve watched as the unconscious Tony Stark was soon airlifted out of the area and into safety. It was at that time that Steve felt himself being thrown forward with such force that it left him dazed (he faceplanted into his shield). He could barely hear the frantic shouts from behind him as another explosion erupted behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Gah, I'm so sorry for the ridiculously long wait. This chapter especially gave me troubles**_. _**I'm still not sure that I like the way it started, as I had issues trying to tie up loose ends in the first paragraph.**

**Oh well...if I decide to update this chapter, I will. Don't be surprised if that happens. **

**~HT**

* * *

_I've always been alone. Even though I have Pep and Rhodey and the Avengers, I'm still alone. Hell, my father didn't care about me. He only cared about his precious _Captain America.

_Cap..._

_He was my childhood idol. I guess you could say that I had a little 'crush' on him. Well...I still do._

_Okay, yeah. I always like to poke fun at him and disobey him, but that's only because I'm Tony fucking Stark. I'm supposed to be the arrogant, narcissistic jackass that 'doesn't play well with others'. I don't do the whole 'taking orders' thing. I prefer to work alone._

_But that doesn't mean I want to _be _alone._

Waking up in a fucking hospital is enough to put anyone on edge. Tony especially. The ridiculously bright lights, the eerie sounds coming from the room across the hall, the white _everything, _and the smell. That terrible, absolutely dreadful odor that reeked of antiseptic and death. It all made him horribly nauseous to the point where one sudden move and he would spill the contents of his stomach all over his ugly hospital gown. Good thing he hadn't eaten in the past, oh...twenty-something hours. But the worst part? _He was all-fucking-alone._

Oh how he wished he would be graced with Cap's company right about now. It would make his time in his little room in hell a little better. Not much, but enough to keep him from losing any sanity that he had left. Sanity that he would soon lose if those fucking doctors kept annoying the hell out of him when he was trying to sleep because he hadn't done so in forever.

What?

You can't possibly blame him for his sleeping habits. He did work after all.

The only time he did get sleep is when Cap dragged him out of the lab (literally) and stayed in Tony's bedroom with him until the over-worked genius actually went to sleep. This occurred regularly with him.

But how in the hell would he go to sleep now? Cap was God knows where, doing God knows what (Tony wasn't even sure Cap wanted to _see_ him right now). The hospital staff kept noisily shuffling in and out of his room. His heart-rate monitor was annoying as hell. And he couldn't shift to a more comfortable position with all the wires in the way. Sleep was just going to have to wait.

* * *

Apparently, Cap had been hit harder than he originally thought. No matter how many times Hulk roared, Steve still remained unconscious. Clint cursed to himself, kicking the ground in frustration. "Dammit!" He shook his head as Hulk lifted up the soldier, probably taking him back to S.H.I.E.L.D. to be treated. Thor and Widow had finally subdued Loki, only after they destroyed the entire facility. Voices behind him made Clint realise that there was still work to be done. The archer retrieved an arrow from his quiver and approached the restrained God of Mischief with a questioning stare. Natasha stood a safe distance away while Thor stayed at his brother's side, keeping a firm grip on the other's arm. "We should take him back to S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm sure Fury wants a word with an old friend."

The return trip home was a quiet one. To Clint's surprise, Loki had made no attempt to escape. "He just knew that I would keep his sorry ass in line," was what he told Fury, who pointedly ignored him and took Loki in for questioning. The archer skipped out on the interrogation, claiming that it was too boring for his liking. Thor refused to leave and Natasha had a few questions of her own. She kept asking why he had targeted Iron Man in the first place, receiving various comments avoiding the question completely. Clint would've enjoyed it, if he had not been checking in on Steve. He felt responsible for what had happened to Cap and he wanted to be there.

He was perched on a chair when Steve's fingers made the slightest twitch that only Hawkeye could notice. Relief flooded Clint as the soldier's eyes were forced open, a small groan escaping his lips. "Glad to see you're awake, Sleeping Beauty."

It took Steve a few moments to figure out where the voice came from and even longer to process what it had said. "Yeah..." he finally managed to say. "Where's Tony?"

Clint sighed. Leave it to Cap to worry about someone else instead of himself.

When Clint didn't answer right away, Steve sat up and stared at him with wide eyes. "Clint? Where is he?" The archer detected the fear in the soldier as he patted his shoulder gently. "He's taken care of, big guy. You're boyfriend's not going to die."

Pushing the 'boyfriend' comment aside, the solider released the breath that he didn't know he was holding. "I want to see him."

Trying to keep a super-soldier from seeing someone he cared about was easier said than done. Clint didn't even stand a chance in holding him back, so he just let the man go. Much to the doctors' dismay. At least ten of them had tried their hand at restraining Steve, but their frail bodies were no match for Captain America. Cap eventually learned of where they were keeping Tony and at once set out to find him. It took a lot longer than it should have, but he was only slowed down because the frantic medical staff refused to let him walk about on his own. When one nurse fell down the stairs, that's where the chase ended. The staff members gave up and let the man do what he wanted to do.

Steve eventually found Tony's room and wasted no time in knocking, letting himself in to see the genius billionaire fiddling with his tablet that he had someone sneak in for him. Tony greeted the soldier with a quick side glance before he went back to work. "Well, lookie here. Looks like I've been graced with a visit from Captain America." The soft grin that was plastered on Steve's face went unnoticed. "I feel honored."

Tony kept working away as the blond made himself comfortable on a chair. "Tony, I-"

"Whoa, wait a minute..." Tony cut him off, looking away from his work to stare at Cap in bewilderment.

"What?"

"You called me 'Tony'."

Why is that such a big deal? Because it's _Cap_ we're talking about. Cap always refers to Tony as 'Stark' or (when they first met) the 'big man in a suit of armor'. Never 'Tony'.

Steve's cheeks turned a soft shade of pink. "Uh, yeah. Is that okay?"

Tony didn't know what to say. He answered with a nod when his mouth seemed unable to form words. It was worth it, though, when he received an a-fucking-dorable smile from the soldier. "Good." Steve turned a dark shade of red when he realised that he was still grinning like an idiot. He quickly shook his head and regained his composure. "How're you feeling?"

The dark-haired man blinked at Cap once before resuming his work with a shrug. "I've been better," he admits. "I just wish these fucking doctors would let me go home. I fucking hate hospitals."

What happened after that comment truly surprised Tony. And normally, it's difficult to surprise him. Duh. Tony fucking Stark here. For some reason unknown to him, Steve had wrapped his arms around the genius and hugged him tightly. What was even more surprising was the fact that Tony didn't push him away.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry about the abrupt ending. I hit a wall with how I wanted to continue it, so I just stopped there before getting too in-depth. Hope that's not an issue for you guys ^.^;**

**~HT**


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